Harvest notes Live!
Harvest 2026
The harvest-time at the Peter Sölva Winery
The 2026 harvest began early this year. The Chardonnay for our sparkling wine base Metodo Classico was harvested on 19 August.
Once again, we were able to achieve very good quality with the desired analytical and sensory results.
Due to the current rainy weather, we will not be carrying out ripeness tests in our vineyards again until next week, so that we can plan the rest of the grape harvest effectively.
In the meantime, we wish you a lovely week.
Peter Sölva – Winemakerteam
27 August 2026
The harvest continues!
We’ve had very high temperatures this summer, and due to the early flowering, it was clear that the final stage of ripening – particularly for the white grape varieties – would still take place during the summer months.
Of course, the weather always plays a key role in the ripening process. Last week we had a good amount of rainfall, around 30–45 mm depending on the vineyard site or microzone. Fortunately, this provided temporary relief from the extreme summer heat and...
However, summer is back for another week and we’re once again seeing temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius and relatively high humidity. Of course, this isn’t ideal for the ripening process, as it can easily lead to botrytis. We hope it won’t rain much more and that the weather will remain rather windy and dry. We’ll see.
Tomorrow we’ll take a sample of our Chardonnay from the young vines and then wait and see, treating it with natural Armicarb (calcium carbonate or baking powder) if necessary...
However, summer will be back in a week’s time, and tomorrow we’ll be harvesting our Chardonnay from the young vines; we’ll then wait and see, and if necessary treat the grapes with Rock dust or with natural Armicarb (calcium carbonate or baking powder) so that any moisture on the grapes dries off immediately and botrytis cannot cause any damage.
31 August 2026
Thanks to the reasonably stable weather, we were once again able to harvest good-quality Chardonnay today. Both the phenolic ripeness and the acidity-sugar ratio (KMW – Klosterneuburg must scale) were excellent in these vineyards. We have now finished harvesting the Chardonnay from the vineyards around Lake Kaltern. Our Chardonnay from Kaltern – village – Altenburg, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, is scheduled to be harvested over the next two weeks. As things stand, the weather forecast suggests we should have a good, stable spell of weather this week. If that pans out, we will of course gradually start planning the harvest of our Pinot Grigio from the hillside vineyards in Unterplanitzing – depending, of course, on the ripeness, balancing acidity and sugar content. Furthermore, today and tomorrow we will be harvesting the small plots of Pinot Noir in the Überetsch microzone, which are already at a very good stage of ripeness.
We are very grateful that, although it has been very hot, the weather has been quite kind to us so far. We mustn’t forget that it is still August, which means we are in the summer months with warmer temperatures. We’re hoping for more favourable weather conditions over the coming weeks, so that, variety by variety and vineyard by vineyard, we have a real chance of hitting the optimal ripeness.
The whole point of the harvest is to achieve the optimal level of ripeness and to be able to pick these grapes within that window of opportunity.
5 September 2026
The weather has been relatively warm so far, with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius during the day and around 20 degrees at night. This has been quite favourable for the ripening process, so we have already been able to harvest the Pinot Gris and some early-ripening Pinot Blanc vineyards. Over the next few days, we will be harvesting Pinot Blanc from two further vineyards: Kühebene and St. Nikolaus. The Chardonnay from the Altenburg vineyard is still waiting to be harvested.According to the weather forecast, we are likely to have rainfall next week on Wednesday and/or Thursday, with temperatures dropping by an average of 5 degrees Celsius. We hope it doesn’t rain for too long and, above all, that this cooling trend sets in. Then the autumn weather would be more ideal, with cooler temperatures at night whilst still enjoying sunshine during the day. The quality is quite good, with favourable analytical values, indicating a very high standard. The next step is to assess the ripeness of the vineyards once again, and on the list are the Schinterhof in the Eisack Valley, Eppan Berg and the Gewürztraminer vineyards in Kaltern and Girlan.
8 September 2026
The harvest continues, and we have been able to press some very high-quality Pinot Blanc from our vineyards in Überetsch. Although the weather is set to be unsettled for a day or two – so it remains to be seen how much rainfall we’ll get – it’s forecast to get cooler, which would herald the start of an ideal autumn – cool and sunny would, of course, be perfect for the coming weeks until the end of October. In the Eiscaktal valley at the Schinterhof too, the grapes are slowly reaching the right and we’ll start harvesting today (two weeks earlier than last year) with the Pinot Grigio, and then, over the coming days, depending on the weather and how ripe the grapes are, we’ll move on to the Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. The Gewürztraminer variety is also slowly approaching harvest time. We’ll wait a little longer to see how it looks in terms of phenolic composition and flavour. The red varieties will also be coming into season soon – of course, the Pinot Noir has now all been harvested, and we’ll see how things go with Vernatsch and Lagrein.
We’ll keep you updated.
12 September 2026
Following the heavy rainfall of the last few days, it has finally cooled down, creating ideal conditions for the next stage of ripening. Cool nights and sunny days are now expected for the remainder of September, and we are hoping for reasonably stable weather. Today we are harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc from Eppan Berg and have also been able to bring in the Chardonnay from Altenburg, which is of excellent quality. At the Schinterhof in Barbian / Kollmann, we’ll be continuing with the Sauvignon Blanc tomorrow, and on Monday we’ll finish harvesting the Pinot Blanc. The Gewürztraminer in Überetsch is slowly reaching phenolic ripeness and will be harvested next week. In the meantime, we’re monitoring the red grape varieties such as Vernatsch, Lagrein and Merlot, as these will be harvested in the coming weeks. According to the weather forecast, we’re set to have more rainfall next week, so we’ll be making decisions on a case-by-case basis for all the other varieties as well. The main focus is on finding the optimal harvest time for each grape variety in its respective vineyard site.
17 September 2026
We can look back on a very good week of harvesting. We were lucky with the weather and were able to harvest grapes of the highest quality. We did have to sort out more grapes than usual, as this year – particularly with Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc – the high temperatures meant we had both green and ripe grapes on the same vine. Sorting will remain a major focus in the future, as it naturally increases the labour involved in the harvest but results in better quality. Gewürztraminer has also produced very good quality grapes this year. Over the coming days, we will be monitoring and checking each vineyard plot individually to see how ripening progresses. Next week, we will finish harvesting the Vernatsch from the old vines in the Prutznai vineyard and then harvest our Lagrein plots in Kaltern, Tramin and Branzoll. Our main red varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, still need to ripen further and will probably only be ready in 14 days’ time. As always, the weather is the deciding factor.
We’ll keep you updated.
September 26, 2026
After a very successful week of harvesting, I can say that the ideal weather conditions allowed us to harvest grapes of truly excellent quality. Our Vernatsch, the Peterleiten, was outstanding from the Kalterer vineyards, and the Lagrein from the KaltererSee “Seegüter” vineyard, from the "Galgenwiesen" in our town Kaltern around the lake and the “Feld” vineyard in Kaltern was also in excellent condition in terms of ripeness and health. We are grateful for this favorable weather and are taking this opportunity to harvest our remaining reds—Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon—and we’re happy to include Merlot as well, leaving the grapes on the vine a bit longer to ensure we harvest them at the optimal time in terms of flavor and phenolic content.
September 30, 2026
This wonderful weather continued, allowing us to achieve optimal ripeness during these days. We are currently harvesting Cabernet Franc from the Überetsch microzone in Kaltern Seegüter and from the Unterland microzone in Tramin. The Merlot from the Überetsch microzone in the municipalities of St. Pauls and Kaltern was also harvested with outstanding quality. As we see time and again, good weather in the fall is always a “game-changer.” That’s why we’re taking a more relaxed approach to monitoring our premium Cabernet Sauvignon selections and expect to reach optimal ripeness within the next 10 days.
We’ll keep you posted!
Peter Sölva – Winery Team
The 2026 harvest began early this year. The Chardonnay for our sparkling wine base Metodo Classico was harvested on 19 August.
Once again, we were able to achieve very good quality with the desired analytical and sensory results.
Due to the current rainy weather, we will not be carrying out ripeness tests in our vineyards again until next week, so that we can plan the rest of the grape harvest effectively.
In the meantime, we wish you a lovely week.
Peter Sölva – Winemakerteam
27 August 2026
The harvest continues!
We’ve had very high temperatures this summer, and due to the early flowering, it was clear that the final stage of ripening – particularly for the white grape varieties – would still take place during the summer months.
Of course, the weather always plays a key role in the ripening process. Last week we had a good amount of rainfall, around 30–45 mm depending on the vineyard site or microzone. Fortunately, this provided temporary relief from the extreme summer heat and...
However, summer is back for another week and we’re once again seeing temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius and relatively high humidity. Of course, this isn’t ideal for the ripening process, as it can easily lead to botrytis. We hope it won’t rain much more and that the weather will remain rather windy and dry. We’ll see.
Tomorrow we’ll take a sample of our Chardonnay from the young vines and then wait and see, treating it with natural Armicarb (calcium carbonate or baking powder) if necessary...
However, summer will be back in a week’s time, and tomorrow we’ll be harvesting our Chardonnay from the young vines; we’ll then wait and see, and if necessary treat the grapes with Rock dust or with natural Armicarb (calcium carbonate or baking powder) so that any moisture on the grapes dries off immediately and botrytis cannot cause any damage.
31 August 2026
Thanks to the reasonably stable weather, we were once again able to harvest good-quality Chardonnay today. Both the phenolic ripeness and the acidity-sugar ratio (KMW – Klosterneuburg must scale) were excellent in these vineyards. We have now finished harvesting the Chardonnay from the vineyards around Lake Kaltern. Our Chardonnay from Kaltern – village – Altenburg, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, is scheduled to be harvested over the next two weeks. As things stand, the weather forecast suggests we should have a good, stable spell of weather this week. If that pans out, we will of course gradually start planning the harvest of our Pinot Grigio from the hillside vineyards in Unterplanitzing – depending, of course, on the ripeness, balancing acidity and sugar content. Furthermore, today and tomorrow we will be harvesting the small plots of Pinot Noir in the Überetsch microzone, which are already at a very good stage of ripeness.
We are very grateful that, although it has been very hot, the weather has been quite kind to us so far. We mustn’t forget that it is still August, which means we are in the summer months with warmer temperatures. We’re hoping for more favourable weather conditions over the coming weeks, so that, variety by variety and vineyard by vineyard, we have a real chance of hitting the optimal ripeness.
The whole point of the harvest is to achieve the optimal level of ripeness and to be able to pick these grapes within that window of opportunity.
5 September 2026
The weather has been relatively warm so far, with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius during the day and around 20 degrees at night. This has been quite favourable for the ripening process, so we have already been able to harvest the Pinot Gris and some early-ripening Pinot Blanc vineyards. Over the next few days, we will be harvesting Pinot Blanc from two further vineyards: Kühebene and St. Nikolaus. The Chardonnay from the Altenburg vineyard is still waiting to be harvested.According to the weather forecast, we are likely to have rainfall next week on Wednesday and/or Thursday, with temperatures dropping by an average of 5 degrees Celsius. We hope it doesn’t rain for too long and, above all, that this cooling trend sets in. Then the autumn weather would be more ideal, with cooler temperatures at night whilst still enjoying sunshine during the day. The quality is quite good, with favourable analytical values, indicating a very high standard. The next step is to assess the ripeness of the vineyards once again, and on the list are the Schinterhof in the Eisack Valley, Eppan Berg and the Gewürztraminer vineyards in Kaltern and Girlan.
8 September 2026
The harvest continues, and we have been able to press some very high-quality Pinot Blanc from our vineyards in Überetsch. Although the weather is set to be unsettled for a day or two – so it remains to be seen how much rainfall we’ll get – it’s forecast to get cooler, which would herald the start of an ideal autumn – cool and sunny would, of course, be perfect for the coming weeks until the end of October. In the Eiscaktal valley at the Schinterhof too, the grapes are slowly reaching the right and we’ll start harvesting today (two weeks earlier than last year) with the Pinot Grigio, and then, over the coming days, depending on the weather and how ripe the grapes are, we’ll move on to the Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. The Gewürztraminer variety is also slowly approaching harvest time. We’ll wait a little longer to see how it looks in terms of phenolic composition and flavour. The red varieties will also be coming into season soon – of course, the Pinot Noir has now all been harvested, and we’ll see how things go with Vernatsch and Lagrein.
We’ll keep you updated.
12 September 2026
Following the heavy rainfall of the last few days, it has finally cooled down, creating ideal conditions for the next stage of ripening. Cool nights and sunny days are now expected for the remainder of September, and we are hoping for reasonably stable weather. Today we are harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc from Eppan Berg and have also been able to bring in the Chardonnay from Altenburg, which is of excellent quality. At the Schinterhof in Barbian / Kollmann, we’ll be continuing with the Sauvignon Blanc tomorrow, and on Monday we’ll finish harvesting the Pinot Blanc. The Gewürztraminer in Überetsch is slowly reaching phenolic ripeness and will be harvested next week. In the meantime, we’re monitoring the red grape varieties such as Vernatsch, Lagrein and Merlot, as these will be harvested in the coming weeks. According to the weather forecast, we’re set to have more rainfall next week, so we’ll be making decisions on a case-by-case basis for all the other varieties as well. The main focus is on finding the optimal harvest time for each grape variety in its respective vineyard site.
17 September 2026
We can look back on a very good week of harvesting. We were lucky with the weather and were able to harvest grapes of the highest quality. We did have to sort out more grapes than usual, as this year – particularly with Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc – the high temperatures meant we had both green and ripe grapes on the same vine. Sorting will remain a major focus in the future, as it naturally increases the labour involved in the harvest but results in better quality. Gewürztraminer has also produced very good quality grapes this year. Over the coming days, we will be monitoring and checking each vineyard plot individually to see how ripening progresses. Next week, we will finish harvesting the Vernatsch from the old vines in the Prutznai vineyard and then harvest our Lagrein plots in Kaltern, Tramin and Branzoll. Our main red varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, still need to ripen further and will probably only be ready in 14 days’ time. As always, the weather is the deciding factor.
We’ll keep you updated.
September 26, 2026
After a very successful week of harvesting, I can say that the ideal weather conditions allowed us to harvest grapes of truly excellent quality. Our Vernatsch, the Peterleiten, was outstanding from the Kalterer vineyards, and the Lagrein from the KaltererSee “Seegüter” vineyard, from the "Galgenwiesen" in our town Kaltern around the lake and the “Feld” vineyard in Kaltern was also in excellent condition in terms of ripeness and health. We are grateful for this favorable weather and are taking this opportunity to harvest our remaining reds—Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon—and we’re happy to include Merlot as well, leaving the grapes on the vine a bit longer to ensure we harvest them at the optimal time in terms of flavor and phenolic content.
September 30, 2026
This wonderful weather continued, allowing us to achieve optimal ripeness during these days. We are currently harvesting Cabernet Franc from the Überetsch microzone in Kaltern Seegüter and from the Unterland microzone in Tramin. The Merlot from the Überetsch microzone in the municipalities of St. Pauls and Kaltern was also harvested with outstanding quality. As we see time and again, good weather in the fall is always a “game-changer.” That’s why we’re taking a more relaxed approach to monitoring our premium Cabernet Sauvignon selections and expect to reach optimal ripeness within the next 10 days.
We’ll keep you posted!
Peter Sölva – Winery Team